Disneyland Eastern Gateway Project is canceled for now, according to Disneyland officials. A new four-diamond hotel will occupy the Rainforest Cafe spot, pictured, and a parking structure will be raised on the west side of the Disneyland Resort. Photographed on Weds., Oct. 25. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A little more than a year ago, Disneyland officials filed paperwork with Anaheim for their next big project that would have helped accommodate the expected large groups of people visiting Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

The Disneyland Eastern Gateway Project was a massive development that included a seven-story parking structure, a new transportation hub with security screening and a pedestrian bridge over Harbor Boulevard on the east side of the busy street. The bridge, on the site of the former Carousel Inn hotel, would have helped funnel guests straight toward the ticket booths onto the esplanade area of Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. Disney would have also made other improvements around the area.

Over the years, Disney had spent more than $100 million acquiring nearby properties to prepare for the Eastern Gateway.

But as Disney announced the project, they failed to garner local support. Almost immediately, some neighboring businesses along Harbor Boulevard pushed back. A new City Council came in, with a different agenda, and then the council later dismantled and then reassembled the city’s planning commission.

The clock was ticking. Star Wars land was coming and Disney wanted to move quickly to get the development rolling.

But after a year of waiting until the furor died down and the politics settled, Disney pivoted away and decided the Eastern Gateway project wasn’t worth the hassle.

Here are four possible reasons on why Disney abandoned the project:

1. Lack of support from majority of businesses along Harbor Boulevard

There was a fear from business owners that Disney’s plan as presented — with an enclosed bridge — would require visitors to walk around the businesses along Harbor to get access to Disney’s security area and into the park. The bridge as designed had no access points on the sidewalk of Harbor Boulevard.

There was also another issue with the security checkpoint being situated behind the motels.

Disney needed the Harbor Boulevard businesses to side with them to convince the City Council to approve the pedestrian bridge.

2. The development could have been held up in court

Although Disney was working with some of the owners to alleviate their concerns over the past year and talked about possibly creating a punch-through or access in some of the motels to the security checkpoint, there were just too many other obstacles to overcome.

Some of the Harbor businesses wanted Disney to have a new bridge design that allowed visitors access on and to Harbor Boulevard. They had questions on who would pay for the punch-through access points in the motels.

A representative for the coalition had also asked Disney for a new environmental impact report to analyze the current and future economic and traffic impact and safety concerns of the Eastern Gateway Project.

Since Disney is starving for parking now and itching to build a parking structure in 2019 for Galaxy’s Edge, a lawsuit from a business owner could have held up the project in court.

3. Political changes in the city

Since the new Anaheim City Council took over in December, the city has undergone several major changes. The city attorney and city manager were let go. The city’s planning commission was dismantled in February and later reappointed in May.

Disney needed the planning commission to approve its site plan and a conditional use permit that covers the bridge over Harbor Boulevard, the transit hub, the security screening area, pedestrian walkway, and the new signage and landscape in the area. The commission also needs to look at variances of bridge height and its setback on the sidewalk.

Disney then needed approvals for two permits from the City Council – one for new signage near the exit ramp off Disney Way and the bridge.

A Disneyland spokesman said since December, they re-evaluated the Eastern Gateway project and decided to move on with developments on the west side of the Disneyland Resort.

4. Alleviating traffic concerns on the west side.

Parking has always been an issue at Disneyland, especially trying to get into Mickey & Friends.

During the park’s busiest days, there’s massive traffic congestion and a bottleneck that occurs along Ball Road and Disneyland Drive as drivers try to enter the parking structure.

It’s a pain for many visitors and takes several minutes to clear. Disney officials said 80 percent of their theme park guests come to the west side.

Disney hopes the new parking structure will alleviate this concern by adding more lanes to keep the traffic flowing.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.